BP #7

Former National Security Advisor to President Trump, Michael Flynn, has been caught in a bit of a sandstorm after resigning from his position 24 days after taking office. Flynn was forced to resigned from his position as National Security Advisor stating he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House Staff regarding his communication with Russian Governmental and business leaders. In newly released documents it was found that Flynn received $68,000 from Russian related entities; this is higher then Flynn previously claimed. As the investigation continues with the Trump administration connection to the Russian government, the question is raised whether these american political figures are caught in a lie, being deceptive, or withholding information. Flynn admitted that a Russian entity helped sponsor his 2015 trip to a Moscow television award ceremony.This was a true statement but according to Carson, “deception needn’t involve false statements; true statements can be deceptive and many forms of deception do not involve making statements of any sort.” This made the circumstances appear to be a one time interaction of Flynn with the Russian entity even thought Flynn did not state it was a one time interaction when he did not fully state all the times he had these paid interactions with Russia. Flynn did not publicly state the amount that was provided to pay for his trip but did state that he was aware the trip was being paid for by Russian entities when questioned about his history with Russia. After the documents were released statements showed that Flynn was also paid by Russian business entities for delivering speeches in Washington. When Flynn was questioned about his interaction with Russian entities, he did not fully answer the question when he only admitted to his paid trip to Moscow. When only answering the question with his one time interaction some may assume that the case was closed but it had just begun with further interaction showing multiple paid interactions with Russian entities. However, when it was found that their were multiple interactions, this could be a case of with holding information.Like Carson states with holding information does not constitute deception. From first glance Flynn looks deceptive when he does not state the amount given to him for his trip to Moscow in 2015 but after investigating more information was with held. Carson explains with holding information as, ” It is not a case of causing someone to have a false beliefs; it is merely a case of failing to correct false beliefs or incomplete information.” Flynn failed to correct the incomplete information when asked about his interactions with Russian entities. Through further investigation the US government can determine his extent of his history with Russia and whether or not Flynn purposely was be deceptive or if he was simply with holding information.